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2007 Archive of the E-scripture journal

January 6, 2008
January 13, 2008
January 20, 2008
January 27, 2008
February 10, 2008
March 2, 2008
March 9, 2008
March 16, 2008
March 23, 2008
March 30, 2008
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March 30, 2008
Sunday Readings: Acts 2:42-47; 1 Pt 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31.

Inner Room

I love the readings from the Sunday of March 30th. It touches on values that I hold most dear and in the gospel it states that Christ can penetrate any fear with love.

Growing up in a family of seven children we shared everything from the television to arguing about whose night it was to do the dishes, the boys or the girls. Through out most of my life, with the exception of one year, I have shared a common living experience. Much to my surprise at times I found out that I had my own set of idiosyncrasies of which I wasn't aware.

Some of the revelations were less painful than others. I remember Sr. Elena telling me one day that she would be glad to help cut the raison bread that I had made the day before. When I said that I could do it by myself, she told me that I didn't cut the bread straight which in turn made it harder for others.

This revelation was easy to take in.

Other revelations were more challenging as they question my intention to be thoughtful of others. Although I do my best to live community well, it has been those harder revelations that continue to call me to look at the values that are most important to me.

When the Risen Christ walked through the fear of the disciples to bring His peace we encounter the power of love that gives us the foundation to live in community, whether it is as of large household or family or as a global citizen. I love this gospel as it pulls me out of any current fear, darkness or doubt into the possibility of love overcoming fear, light meeting darkness with peace rather than judgment, and trust reaching out to doubt.

This season of Easter seeks to deepen within us, what the season of Christmas does with lights and decorations, gifts and parties; only it does it by going inward. It invites us into that inner room where, like the disciples we sometimes hang out in our fears, it invites us to walk the road of Emmaus and hear in our prayer another voice that places a deeper longing for the yet unseen.

My challenge is to trust that my inner room is as permeable as the one where the disciples were gathered when the Risen Christ moved into their fear with peace!

March 23, 2008
Sunday Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4 or I Cor 5:6b-8; Jn 20:1-9.

Who was that Man?

The day before Easter a friend and I were taking our dogs to be groomed. In many ways it had been a wonderfully normal Saturday. The dogs had been taken to the dog park where they ran and let go of some of their pent up energy, I had made time for prayer and the day was showing some incredible Southwest signs of spring; all in all a great day so far!

As we headed to the groomers we came upon a black van parked in the middle of the intersection. It was obvious from all the folks standing around that some kind of accident had happened. There didn't seem to be another car, so it seemed strange to have the van parked in the middle with people waving their arms. As I drove pass the van I saw a man lying on the street with his arms straight out from his sides. There was a huge pool of blood under his head and he appeared to be dead. I saw a woman taking his pulse and her face appeared stressed.

My friend and I immediately began to pray out loud several Hail Marys and Our Fathers. Following our praying we were both very quiet. Throughout the day my mind wandered back to the man lying in the street. I was especially caught by his arms being out like Christ's arms on the cross. Then I would think about the pool of blood under his head.

As my mind relived these images into Easter Sunday I was struck with the thrill and fear that entered Mary Magdeline's thoughts when she saw that Christ was not in the tomb and the feelings that must have been with this man's friends and family on Easter morning. I also became more aware of how distant I was to the physical realities that we celebrate and remember during the Tridium.

I became aware of how I had sanitized the scourging of Christ and his death. Of course there had to be blood and discomfort, but I had the image in my mind rather than experiencing it through my heart and imagination.

Our corner of the city is a little rougher and known for being an area where "trouble happens." Perhaps this didn't qualify as "news worthy." Maybe if it had happened to a "famous person." Quite honestly, I don't know why I couldn't get more information. Maybe it wasn't a story they wanted to have in the Easter Sunday newspaper.

Back to Jesus Christ and the celebration of His resurrection...I wonder what the word was out on the street about his death on the previous Friday? Who knew and moreover who cared? I wonder how long it took for the word to get out that his disciples, both a woman and man, found the tomb empty except for his linen clothes left behind?

At what point did the story of the Risen Lord begin to change the lives of those, like myself, who had allowed their religious and spiritual sensibilities to be sanitized? Who and how might we be changed during this Easter Season by the lives of both those known and unknown to us?

March 16, 2008
Sunday Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4 or I Cor 5:6b-8; Jn 20:1-9.

Who was that Man?

The day before Easter a friend and I were taking our dogs to be groomed. In many ways it had been a wonderfully normal Saturday. The dogs had been taken to the dog park where they ran and let go of some of their pent up energy, I had made time for prayer and the day was showing some incredible Southwest signs of spring; all in all a great day so far!

As we headed to the groomers we came upon a black van parked in the middle of the intersection. It was obvious from all the folks standing around that some kind of accident had happened. There didn't seem to be another car, so it seemed strange to have the van parked in the middle with people waving their arms. As I drove pass the van I saw a man lying on the street with his arms straight out from his sides. There was a huge pool of blood under his head and he appeared to be dead. I saw a woman taking his pulse and her face appeared stressed.

My friend and I immediately began to pray out loud several Hail Marys and Our Fathers. Following our praying we were both very quiet. Throughout the day my mind wandered back to the man lying in the street. I was especially caught by his arms being out like Christ's arms on the cross. Then I would think about the pool of blood under his head.

As my mind relived these images into Easter Sunday I was struck with the thrill and fear that entered Mary Magdeline's thoughts when she saw that Christ was not in the tomb and the feelings that must have been with this man's friends and family on Easter morning. I also became more aware of how distant I was to the physical realities that we celebrate and remember during the Tridium.

I became aware of how I had sanitized the scourging of Christ and his death. Of course there had to be blood and discomfort, but I had the image in my mind rather than experiencing it through my heart and imagination.

Our corner of the city is a little rougher and known for being an area where "trouble happens." Perhaps this didn't qualify as "news worthy." Maybe if it had happened to a "famous person." Quite honestly, I don't know why I couldn't get more information. Maybe it wasn't a story they wanted to have in the Easter Sunday newspaper.

Back to Jesus Christ and the celebration of His resurrection...I wonder what the word was out on the street about his death on the previous Friday? Who knew and moreover who cared? I wonder how long it took for the word to get out that his disciples, both a woman and man, found the tomb empty except for his linen clothes left behind?

At what point did the story of the Risen Lord begin to change the lives of those, like myself, who had allowed their religious and spiritual sensibilities to be sanitized? Who and how might we be changed during this Easter Season by the lives of both those known and unknown to us?

March 16, 2008
Sunday Readings: Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14—27:66 or 27:11-54.

Which Crowd?

There it was the Palm Sunday celebration. My friend Alice and I head off to Sunday's celebration. I got let off at the place where the procession was going to begin outside, and Alice parks her car. I kept looking at the back of the crowd gathered for my friend, but she was no where in sight. Once in church I look and see her in a side pew of the church, she appears from a distance to be upset. When I finally got to the pew, I asked if something is wrong and she tells me that she fell and thinks she may have broken her wrist.

She had been looking forward to the beginning of Holy Week services and didn't want to miss the Palm Sunday Eucharist; however, she was in a lot of pain, so I drove her home. I find out later that two of the people involved in celebration could see that she was hurt, but did nothing. One of the folks even asked, "Are you alright?" When she answered, "No," the person turned away and continued to hand out palms.

I found this whole experience very disturbing. I have asked myself this week, "What was going on inside those two people that Palm Sunday turned into aspects of the Good Samaritan story?" What happens to us in crowds or when we have "official roles" at a church function?

During Holy Week we hear about people in two different crowd gatherings, the first being Jesus' ride into Jerusalem on the ass where he is hailed as the "Messiah," and the other where the crowd calls out for his death. The messages toward the same man were so different in nature. My friend Alice and I had talked about these two crowds before going to the Palm Sunday celebration. Alice stated that she thought that two crowds consisted of two different groups of people. "Why," said she, "would it need to be the same people?"

Alice then talked about the two different groups that would gather at the prison when someone was to be executed. "One crowd," she said, "consisted of those who came to see the criminal punished. And the other crowd would come to pray for all involved in this story, in any way. "Why," asked Alice, "would it not be the same at the time of Jesus?" As for me, I had always assumed it was the same people in both crowds caught up in the excitement of the moment.

Perhaps there is something to be said about crowds and their power to influence our behavior on a given day. I think the man who was directing people to go to the gathering place across the street and not the church was focused on that...nothing else. The woman handing out palms may not have known what to do with Alice's need and her job of handing out psalms. Two people doing their jobs for the big picture and missing the needs of one in front of them...

I am disenchanted with their response to Alice. At the same time, the question that haunts me is, "Where was their focus?" During this Holy Week, we will read and hear about moments of incredible unity among Jesus and His followers and moments of abandonment and suffering. Throughout those highs and lows there will be friends and foes gathered around Jesus. As we listen once again to those stories, the question is there for us to consider, "Where is our focus? Will we follow the example of the women who followed Jesus? Will we be the two men on the crosses next to Jesus? Will we be Judas or Peter? Or might we venture into the experience seeing ourselves in aspects of both the saints and the sinners? When Easter morning arrives, where will our focus be when the rock is no longer in front of the tomb?

March 9, 2008
Sunday Readings: Ez 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45.

Let Your Ears be Attentive

In church a few weeks ago the priest presider was sending the younger children off for their scripture study. He began his prayer saying, "Let your ears help you see God's presence among you..." Realizing that he said ears and not eyes he repeated the sentence again using the word "eyes."

I liked his use of the word ears in that context. How often does our most profound seeing or awakening come from our seeing with our ears?! In the gospel reading for Sunday March 9th Lazarus experienced new life through his ability to hear his name being spoken. His family and those gathered saw the power of God through the words spoken by Jesus.

I sat next to a patient the other day who felt like God had abandoned her. She didn't feel His presence and she missed it. As we talked about this she teared up. She spoke from that deep place of longing that we hear about in psalm 42 and in the psalm 130:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.

We then turned to the psalms and listened to the words that painted that same longing and sense of absence that my patient was experiencing. She listened to the words and as she did so, she voiced feeling more at peace. The words seemed to help her see again God's presence, experience the power of community that comes with having a common longing acknowledged through the words and faith of others.

What do I see in the words of the gospel of March 9th? Dare I allow my ears to take me places that I might not see with my eyes? This Lenten journey invites me along with the raising up of Lazarus to engage the complexity of all my senses in order that I might see with my ears the God of love who speaks to us today.

March 2, 2008
Sunday Readings: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38.

Life Turned Upside Down

Again after another bout of being sick in bed I re-enter my world of work and being upright for the day, rather than only a few hours. Although this is not at all like being blind, it did offer me an opportunity to look at wellness with new eyes. I have noticed especially after being sick how very easy it is to take life for granted and in the midst of that forgetting to choose life from a place of passion.

The man born blind was given a whole new array of choices about everything with his healing. I would imagine that he could choose new job skills, and new places where he could travel with greater ease. At the same time, this man had the challenge of being open to a whole new way of looking at the world and the world looking at him. How did his encounter with Jesus give him the courage to take in this new world?

As a child I use to think, "How very cool to get sight after being blind!" Until the last ten years or so I never thought about what it would take to be open to all of these changes, emotionally, physically, culturally and spiritually. As I listened to the readings for Sunday March 2nd, I got in touch with what it takes to be open to healing into new sight. Our daily patterns become very familiar and familiarity is hard to give up. The man given sight had everything in his life turned upside down. Even his parents were afraid to claim his healing due to the implications of being one of Jesus' followers.

Being sick the last two weeks made me more aware of the patterns and attitudes which I had fallen into in my daily life. What has struck me being just on the other side of being sick is that I want to see each day with more passion, more excitement. As I listened to the scriptures of March 2nd I felt a inner desire to be courageous like the man born blind and claim Jesus as the source of my seeing life with passion and excitement.

As I journey this week of Lent I seek to follow the lead of the man born blind, open to my life being turned upside down by Jesus and see anew how to claim this life changing healing.

February 10, 2008
Sunday Readings: Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19; Mt 4:1-11.

Garage Temptations

I spent the weekend putting together two shelving unites for the garage. A friend and I put the first shelf together toward later afternoon yesterday and finished the second shelf this afternoon. The piles in the garage had become so plentiful that the two cars could squeeze inside the garage, but I practically had to climb out of the back of the station wagon to get out of the garage. For weeks I have looked at the piles and thought, "I really have to do something."

So the two shelving units seem like this big breakthrough! Not only could I pull the cars in without any problems, I could also get out of the car without practicing any stunt woman activities.

All of this happened the first weekend in Lent! Jesus went to the desert to clear out inner space, to make room for the word of God to be accessible. After forty days, the devil was there to make spiritual clutter for Him, challenging him with the temptations of: showing his power as the Son of God and changing stones into bread, seeing if the angels would prevent him from harm if he threw himself off the temple's parapet and giving Jesus power over multiple kingdoms if he would worship the evil one.

In each case Jesus said no to the temptations of the Devil. I think that He was able to make these choices because he remembered who he was, not from a place of fear or doubt, but rather from a place of inner conviction.

This Lent, each of us are invited into that same desert that we might root ourselves in the way of God; a God who is faithful and all loving. We make this journey in community with other pilgrims who seek to root themselves in the same God and Holy Spirit that led Jesus to His deepest truths.

My garage is hardly a desert, however, as I begin this Lenten journey it is a great metaphor for the work that is waiting to happen in my soul, one pile at a time, sometimes with concert with the help of a friend and at other times by myself. What is your metaphor? May this verse from the responsorial psalm be our guide during this Lenten Season:

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

January 27, 2008
Sunday Readings: Is 8:23—9:3; 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17; Mt 4:12-23 or 4:12-17.

The Right Stuff

Right now in the United States there seems to be very few places that you can go where you are not inundated with news about the presidential election. The information about a candidate that we receive may be true or false, somewhat true or somewhat false. What does seem true is that each of the candidates believes that they have something important to offer the people of the United States.

Choosing or feeling called to positions of visibility takes courage. I remember being part of a pastoral organization that was looking for a new president; I was part of the small group that was looking at people's resumes. Prior to position being posted, everyone took time to make sure the qualifications fit what was needed for the office of president.

I remember hearing one committee member questioning whether Jesus would have the qualifications to get an interview. It is often statements like these that keep me from choosing to consider putting my name in for an elected office; that reluctance and questioning shows up for me as I read the scripture for January 27.

The readings today make me question what I have within me that makes me a candidate to respond to Jesus request to discipleship, to Paul's invitation to me to preach the good news in Jesus name, and that my yes is stirred up because, I too, like the people in Isaiah 8 have seen "a great light" in my times of "darkness."

However, as I noted earlier whether it is the call to run for a public office or an organization's office, I am not always convinced I have the right stuff. How might I decide what the "right stuff" is to live and preach the gospel? What are the qualities within me or you that give light to the kingdom at hand? What am I willing to let go of in my life, in order that light of Christ might be more visible? Am I courageous enough to take Jesus' confidence in everyday mortals, such as Peter and Andrew, that I too am enough to witness the call to love and forgive?

I think that I am willing to risk accepting this call...as long as I dare to root myself in the One who issued the invitation!

January 20, 2008
Sunday Readings: Is 49:3, 5-6; 1 Cor 1:1-3; Jn 1:29-34.

The Glory of God

The readings from Sunday January 20th stir up in me questions and reactions. The first question is from the Isaiah, have I ever met anyone who showed forth God's glory? I certainly have prayed that I might be an instrument of God's unconditional love, has there ever been a point that in that action or desire that I showed forth God's glory?

Secondly, am I courageous enough to accept God's direct call to be God's servant or God's light? I remember once having a very strong dream about God speaking to me directly. It scared me so much that I couldn't go back to sleep. God seemed too close, too overwhelming! Ever since that dream in the late seventies, I have always felt better telling God my plans about what I am going to do for Him, than that overwhelming encounter in my dream.

In the gospel we hear more about Jesus' baptism. Jesus not only receives John's baptism, but He also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is this powerful baptism of the Spirit with the simple action of the pouring of water that empowered Jesus to His new ministry. Empowered by the Spirit to be open to being not only the servant of God, but also the one through whom God's glory could be shown.

I wonder if I have been open to the power of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation to be transformed into a servant willing to be about "My Father's business, a vehicle through whom His glory can be seen?"

January 13, 2008
Sunday Readings: Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17.

A Simple Handshake

In one of my chaplain internships I worked at Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston. I was so nervous to enter the rooms of the patients and say, "Hello I am a chaplain here, is there anyway I can serve you?" Now almost 16 years later, I enter the homes and hospital/nursing rooms of patients with a different kind of introduction. However, there is always a little space of "what if they don't want to see me?" anxiety lurking beneath the calm exterior.

At that first internship I was asked to work with a seasoned chaplain in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, affectionately called NICU. The babies in this unit were in some kind of trouble; many were very premature or were born with a life threatening beginning. I was very nervous about this assignment. I had never given birth to a baby and my comfort zone with babies with serious physical problems was below the charting line.

However, I was given the most wonderful chaplain who remembered her early days in the NICU and she gently nudged me into comfort with her kindness. One memory sticks out in my mind. It was the day Cathy brought me to the crib side of a baby that weighed just a little over one pound. She said after I cleaned and scrubbed my hands, "Here just put your pointer finger near her hand, let her make contact with you." And I did, I slowly and carefully put my very sterile pointer finger near her tiny hand...and I waited.

This little one grabbed my finger and held on. She did not seem the least bit afraid of me in this context, even though I weighed a good bit more than her. My mentor said, "She senses your spirit and knows you are okay." Even now it makes me somewhat teary. What an amazing God, who formed this little one in the womb and that moment, was present in the simple connection of a very small fist and one very much larger pointer finger!

Who are we anyway, that God should form us, call us by name and call us to be present to the needs and gifts of others? Again, I ask myself as a baptized Christian, who does God call me to be, to serve and to become? As this week unfolds, I shall look for the Spirit to guide me, be in the hands of the very small or the hand grasp of those who are very old.

January 6, 2008
Sunday Readings: Is 60:1-6, 10; Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12.

The Guiding Light

I often wonder how many special stars I have missed which were in plain sight which would have led me to the Christ light? How many people with whom I interact or see at a safe distance might be the one whom God has put on or in my path today to transform my life? How often have I listened half heartedly to the words of someone, whom I deemed not important and missed the words that called me to my next step in the journey?

I wish the questions above were addressed to someone other than me and yet if I do not honestly address these questions, I will never find myself in the company of the wise men. The wise men were willing to look at the night sky and notice the unusual. I think in order to notice the unusual they must have had a powerful grasp of what the "usual" sky looked like.

As this new year unfolds, I seek to become more aware of those in my everyday surroundings with the hope, that as they are called to guide me with their light, I will not be left in the dark because of my misguided blindness.

Note to readers: Due to a cold my spirit, body, and mind were in quarantine this past week, thus no reflection for December 30th or the 1st of January.

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